Soyuz 14 (Russian: Союз 14, Union 14)
was a 1974 manned space flight, part of the Soviet Union's Almaz program to evaluate the military
applications of human spaceflight. The spacecraft took cosmonautsYuri Artyukhin and Pavel Popovich to
the Salyut 3space station. At
the time, the military nature of this mission and the station
itself were not acknowledged by Soviet authorities. The flight was
the first successful mission to a space station by the Soviets.[2]
The mission proved to be the only one for Salyut 3 as Soyuz 15 failed to dock with
the station in August and the station was de-orbited January 1975.
With the AmericanSkylab missions now complete, the flight marked
the start of the monopoly of manned space activities by the Soviets
until the 1981 launch of STS 1, the first space shuttle flight,
save for the joint Apollo-Soyuz flight of 1975.[3]

Backup
crew

Reserve
crew

Mission
parameters

Mass: 6,800 kg (15,000 lb)

Perigee: 195 km (121 mi)

Apogee: 217 km (135 mi)

Inclination: 51.6°

Period: 88.6 min

Mission
highlights

With the Salyut 3space station
successfully launched on 24 June 1974, Soyuz 14 was sent into orbit
nine days later, on 3 July. The craft docked with the space station
the next day, performing a manual approach for the last 100
metres.[3]
The crew tested the suitability of Salyut 3 as a manned military
reconnaissance platform. They also tested Almaz station systems,
such as the solar arrays.[2]

Increased solar activity raised safety issues,
but it was decided radiation levels were within safe limits, so
the flight continued.[3]

The cosmonauts exercised for two hours each day to counter the
effects of weightlessness. Because of this, they were able to climb
from their Soyuz descent module without assistance when their
flight ended on 19 July. The crew left enough supplies on Salyut 3
to last the next crew at least six months.[2]